False Comfort: How Calvinist Assurance Undermines the Gospel
Orientation
The Calvinist doctrine of Perseverance of the Saints creates a false and destructive assurance by making salvation contingent on works-based evidence of election.
- It shifts assurance from Christ's finished work to your own performance.
- It leads to constant self-examination, fear, and spiritual bondage.
- It undermines the certainty of justification by faith alone.
And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day. (John 6:39)
— John 6:39
Clarification
The debate over predestination misses the biblical point that God predestines believers to sonship and inheritance, not merely to a salvation status.
- Salvation is initiated by God's Spirit drawing individuals to Christ.
- Christ promises never to reject those who come to Him.
- Assurance is based on God's promise and grace, not on human performance or fruitfulness.
No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day. (John 6:44)
— John 6:44
Structure
True assurance rests in trusting God's promise, not in self-examination, because God's Spirit draws us to Christ and Christ secures our inheritance.
- God predestines believers for sonship and a shared inheritance with Christ.
- The believer's union with Christ's death is the rule of life, not law-based self-scrutiny.
- Looking to one's own performance for assurance perpetuates sin and spiritual torment.
Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ. (Galatians 4:7)
— Galatians 4:7
Weight-Bearing Prose
The Calvinist doctrine of Perseverance of the Saints functionally makes salvation contingent on works. It requires evidence of godly fruit to confirm election, turning faith alone into faith plus ongoing performance. This creates a system where assurance is anchored in self-examination rather than in Christ’s finished work. The result is not holiness but bondage to the law’s scrutiny, living ‘in the flesh’ under its rule. This echoes Augustine and Roman Catholic soteriology, which also tie justification and assurance to works, explaining contemporary rapprochement between some Protestant and Catholic groups. Biblically, predestination is not about selective salvation but about God’s purpose: He predestines believers to sonship and inheritance (Eph 1:5). Salvation is initiated by God’s drawing (John 6:44), and Christ promises never to reject those who come to Him (John 6:37). The Pauline category of union with Christ’s death (Rom 6) is displaced by a law-based life of perpetual self-assessment, which is a ministry of condemnation, not the gospel of reconciliation.
Integration
Your assurance is not found in your fruitfulness or in proving your election. It is found in Christ’s promise. He said He will not cast out any who come to Him. God’s Spirit draws you, and Christ secures you. This is the ground that does not shift. You are a son, an heir with Christ, not because you persevered well enough, but because God promised. Rest here. The pressure to perform for assurance is removed. Look away from yourself and to the One who promised, who is faithful. This is your landing place, your stability. Christ is your assurance.